The establishment of three technology companies in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran will offer a new opportunity for Saudi Arabia to move technology into the private sector, according to Dr. Faleh Al-Sulaiman, Vice President for Technology Development and Industrial Relations at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) and Supervisor of the Dhahran Techno Valley (DTV). “The approval to set up the technology companies will strengthen the capability of the Kingdom's private sector to engage in more technology-driven enterprises, thus further realizing this country's vision of creating a knowledge-based economy,” Sulaiman said. The Saudi Cabinet during its weekly session last Monday, approved and endorsed licenses for three technology companies to be set up as joint stock companies in order to enter into partnerships with educational and research institutions to improve the skills of university staff and students. The new companies – Wadi Al-Riyadh (Riyadh Techno Valley), Wadi Jeddah (Jeddah Techno Valley), and Wadi Al-Dhahran (Dhahran Techno Valley) – will operate as joint stock enterprises. The three companies will form partnerships with educational and research institutions and the private business sector to undertake joint projects that will develop new technologies, and at the same time provide training to university staff and students to enhance their technical and practical skills. The three companies will be opened to local and international investors to support the companies' research programs, as well as to train university students to enable them to secure jobs in the private business sector. The companies will be managed by combined teams from universities and private enterprises, according to Sulaiman. “Dhahran Techno Valley Company will be governed and managed by a board of directors that will include university officials and members from industry including Saudi Aramco, Sabic, and others,” Sulaiman said. He said the partners are now working on developing the structure of the company. “The Royal Decree, essentially a Royal Charter for the creation of the corporation, should be interpreted in its broadest sense, and the role of the corporation laid forth based upon it, and then, after that, the ‘manifesto' for the corporation can be prepared accordingly, and this will set out the role and the duties and activities of the corporation,” said Dr. Halim Hamid Redhwi, Assistant Supervisor of Dhahran Techno-Valley (DTV) and professor at the Chemical Engineering Department at KFUPM. The Cabinet approval for the three technology companies did not actually create them by Cabinet action; rather these companies will be formed by universities and will expand the role of universities and research institutions by allowing them to engage in the private sector in partnership with local and international companies.
